Buttery, soft, and made completely from scratch, this easy homemade biscuit recipe deserves a permanent place in your recipe repertoire. This recipe is made with all butter, no shortening!
With just 6 ingredients that I bet you already have on hand, these homemade biscuits are so simple to make and I’ve included plenty of tips (and a video!) to make sure you end up with perfect biscuits every single time.
Two reasons I’m super excited to share this homemade biscuit recipe with you today:
One: because homemade biscuits are delicious (obviously) and they’re so easy to make. So many people buy the canned version without realizing that they already have all of the ingredients to make them from scratch in their pantry.
The taste of a pre-made biscuit doesn’t hold a candle to a homemade biscuit. Not. even. close. Preservatives and artificial flavors, you aren’t welcome here.
Two: because ever since I started working on this biscuit recipe a few weeks ago, “Mind Your Own Biscuits” by Kacey Musgraves has been stuck in my head and I’ve been singing it off-key relentlessly.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Kacey Musgraves and her music, but every time I start singing my dog starts actually crying. It’s sad and hilarious, and if I wasn’t so embarrassed by my terrible singing voice I would have shared a video of it by now. Hopefully, by publishing this recipe I’ll release myself from the endless refrain and the animal abuse will finally stop.
But let’s talk more about the first reason.
Homemade biscuits call for just six ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter, and milk. And then more butter once they’re finished baking because of course we need more butter.
I mentioned that these biscuits are easy so do not be alarmed by all the tips that I have for you below. These biscuits are easy, but technique matters and I want to arm you with all the information that you need so that you can make these easily and have them come out perfectly the very first time.
The tips are simple but important, and while some more seasoned bakers already know them, I want to give everyone an even playing field.
Tips for Making Homemade Biscuits
- The butter and milk for this recipe need to be as cold as possible for fluffy and soft biscuits. I freeze my butter before using it and recommend keeping the milk in the refrigerator right up until it’s time to add it to the dry ingredients.
- Don’t overwork the dough! Keep in mind that you want your butter to stay as cold as possible when making these biscuits, and the more you have your hands on the dough the softer the butter will become. Definitely don’t use an electric mixer for this recipe.
- We’re going to do a little bit of laminating. This means folding the dough over itself multiple times (5-6 times here) to encourage flaky layers in our biscuits. You can watch the video below to see exactly how this is done.
- Don’t use a rolling pin, use your hands to gently work the dough into a flat rectangle before cutting out your biscuits.
- Don’t be afraid to add flour to the dough if it’s too sticky while you are handling it (and make sure to work on a lightly floured surface).
Visual clue: If you look at the pre-baked biscuit below, you’ll see that you can actually see the butter pieces in the dough. This is what you want, the ingredients won’t be well-combined like with a cookie dough and seeing bits of butter means you’ve actually done everything right here. Hooray!
A Few Notes on Butter in Homemade Biscuits
The butter is possibly the most important part of this recipe, and the way you handle it can make or break your homemade biscuits.
While you can certainly use a pastry cutter to cut your butter into the dry ingredients, I recommend freezing your butter for about 30 minutes before beginning. Then, use a box grater to grate the butter before combining this in with your dry ingredients.
I use this technique in my scone recipes and highly recommend it with these biscuits, too. Not only is it much easier than using a pastry cutter, but it does a great job of finely shredding and distributing the butter throughout the mixture without overworking the butter (remember, you want to manage the butter as little as possible so that it’s as cold as possible when going into the oven).
Alternatively you could also use a food processor (like I do with my pie crust recipe), but it’s just so easy to grate in the butter that I always use this method instead.
And yes, I do recommend using unsalted butter in this recipe and then adding salt. If you want to know more about why I write my recipes this way, you can read all about it (and an easy substitution if you only have salted butter on hand) in this post that I wrote about salted vs unsalted butter.
I know I’ve mentioned to you guys a few times that I’ve been working on a baking contest/challenge/I’m really not sure what to call it, but I’m planning a post where I encourage all of you to bake along with me. The goal is to get people baking recipes they may have not tried before, and I’m encouraging everyone to share their results for a chance to win a small prize.
Well, today’s homemade biscuit recipe is essentially the base for the baking challenge that I’ll be sharing in exactly one week, so take this as a hint that making today’s recipe is a great way to get a jump start for the challenge!
To make sure you’re among the first to be notified of all new recipes and baking challenges, make sure you’re subscribed to my e-mail list. It’s free, and you get a free e-book of 8 of my favorite cookie recipes.
Enjoy!
How to Make Homemade Biscuits
I know I talked a lot in this video, but I really feel that the tips are so important, and will help ensure your biscuits come out perfectly!
Homemade Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter very cold (85g), unsalted European butter is ideal, but not required
- ¾ cup whole milk¹ (177ml) buttermilk or 2% milk will also work
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.
- Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt
- Remove your butter from the refrigerator and either cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter or (preferred) use a box grater to shred the butter into small pieces and then add to the flour mixture and stir.6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- Cut the butter or combine the grated butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add milk, use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don't over-work the dough).¾ cup whole milk¹
- Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable.
- Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.
- Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick and lightly dust a 2 ¾" round biscuit cutter with flour.
- Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.
- Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than ½" apart on baking sheet.
- Once you have gotten as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.
- Bake on 425F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.
- If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Penny likes to supervise the photography process. Fortunately, this setup got her vote of approval.
Emma M. Sosa
D-I-V-I-N-E. The best biscuits I have ever tasted. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Veronica
Yay! I finally made edible baking powder biscuits! Thanks for the help with the technique tips! Really helpful!!
Super simple and easy once you get the hang of it! Your help made that possible! So appreciated!
Michele Marlene Swisher
This was perfect! I usually pop a can of biscuits but I was at a relatives snowed in. Made these biscuits to go with stew. They were great and we use almond milk. The 2nd batch i am using 8 tablespoons of butter. I think it needs it due to not much fat in the almond milk. yum! thanks! So easy i may never pop a can again!!
Bianca
I loved how easy yet delicious these biscuits turned out! I usually hate cooking or baking, but I actually enjoyed making this recipe. Plus, I’m honored to be the 10,000th comment!
Sam
So happy to hear you enjoyed, Bianca! And… Wow! I can’t believe this recipe has gained 10,000 comments, I honestly never would’ve imagined when I published this recipe almost 7 years ago. Thank you so much for trusting my recipe and letting me know how it turned out, I truly appreciate it! ❤
Kita
I made these and they turn out good. Thank you.
Krystle
very tasty!
Melissa
👍👍
Casey @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re glad you enjoyed these, Melissa! ☺️
Eileen
I am impressed at how well written this recipe is. I can almost taste the muffins!
Have you ever tried them as the base for strawberry shortcake cake. And could you use buttermilk instead of milk to make buttermilk biscuits from it?
Sam
I hope you love them, Eileen! I do use basically this recipe for my strawberry shortcakes. You just add a nice sugar topping to it. 🙂 I have not personally used buttermilk, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. 🙂
Mike
Great recipe – I dont usually have milk in my fridge so I tried just plain water, turned out just fine, although definitely a little more dry.
Eric K
Is there a diabetic friendly version of this recipe? White all-purpose flour spikes my sugars as does the sugar.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Unfortunately we do not 🙁
Brittney
I’m excited to try this recipe! Planning on making small ones for a tea party and wondering if you have experience with prepping ahead so they’re ready to pop into the oven right before the party?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Brittney! This will work just fine. Make sure to store the in an airtight container in the fridge until you’re ready to bake.
sharon
Can these be frozen before baking? And if so should they be thawed before baking or bake frozen?
Could bacon grease be added for flavoring?
Casey @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Sharon! You can freeze these, you can either thaw overnight in the refrigerator or bake from frozen, either way they will need a little extra time in the oven. We haven’t tried adding bacon grease so we’re not sure how that would work.
Darren Shook anadarko, ok
I had once before woke up with the attitude I’ll just make homemade biscuits. I went to sleep that night recording,”never make homemade from scratch biscuits,”
30 years later I again woke with the idea I could make homemade biscuits from scratch. What a success. what was different? sugarspun.com and Heather were right in my kitchen every step of the way. thank you.
Heather
I love this recipe and make it all the time . If I double the recipe should I also double the baking powder ?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Heather! Yes, you will want to double all ingredients, including the baking powder 😊
Heather Lynn
Absolutely the prettiest biscuits I’ve ever made, all thanks to this recipe! Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy they turned out so nicely for you, Heather! Enjoy 😊
Rhiannon
These biscuits are so easy and delicious, I will never buy canned biscuits again! The grated butter is a game changer and I have used it in other dough recipes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you enjoyed them so much, Rhiannon! Thanks for the review 🩷
Marisol
Wow! Just wow! I used 3/4 cup 2%milk and 3/4th tbsp vinegar to make sour milk. Instead of sugar I used a tbs of honey. Delicious! Just the right crisp on the outside, soft and flaky on the inside.
Heather s
BEST BISCUITS EVER! I wish I knew how to attach a pic. I’ve made this recipe a dozen times. I usually have to sub the baking powder but that’s neither here nor there. Thanks to your tips and trick these baby’s come out fluffy and flaky yummy vessels for whatever you can dream up! I dont always get all 12 but im ok with that lol
thank you for a great recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy they are such a hit for you, Heather! Enjoy 😊